Kellogg’s Brand Reputation Plummets After Firing Michael Phelps

At least according to a company called “Vanno” that tracks the brand reputations of more than 5,600 companies. They claim that the company has slipped from #9 to #83 in terms of brand reputation.  If their data is in fact correct, that means that the scathing criticism and calls for a boycott coming from So Good and elsewhere in the blogosphere had an effect.

How Vanno tracks this stuff is unclear to me. It seems to be a Digg-like site where users vote on brand reputation etc., so I’m not sure how reliable the data is.  As Consumerist observes, they released a less than stellar Powerpoint to back up their data. No offense Vanno, but it kind of looks like it was made by a 12 year old. That being said, there is clearly something a foot, because according to their metric, Kellogg’s brand reputation took a nose dive after their much publicized decision to cut ties with Michael Phelps.

A recent poll shows that 44% of Americans currently believe that marijuana should be legalized, including nearly 6 in 10 people living on the West Coast and the vast majority of those under 30.  The tide is slowly turning against the absurdity of our country’s marijuana prohibition, and the incident with Michael Phelps should be a lesson for companies nationwide that the consumer landscape has changed.  You criticize pot and pot smokers at your peril, and it could end up hurting your bottom line.